{"id":241508,"date":"2026-07-28T17:03:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=241508"},"modified":"2026-07-28T17:03:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:03:23","slug":"beekeepers-dont-get-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/beekeepers-dont-get-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBeekeepers Don\u2019t Get Cancer\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently an apiarist told me about an old wives\u2019 tale. She said the scuttlebutt in the beekeeping world is that \u201cbeekeepers don\u2019t get cancer<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Many anti-cancer protocols insist on zero sugar and no sweeteners of any kind, whether natural or artificial. But this apiarist is a firm believer in the healing power of honey, as well as in the immune benefits of bee stings.<\/p>\n

All of this piques my curiosity. Is it really true that beekeepers don\u2019t get cancer? And if beekeepers don\u2019t get cancer, why not? Is it the honey? Is it the bee stings? Is it that they\u2019re spending most of their days outside in the healing sunshine, soaking up the vitamin D?<\/p>\n

Is it that they\u2019re also digging in the dirt a lot and we know getting down and dirty \u2013 playing in the dirt, keeping animals, growing organic food \u2013 helps us avoid chronic diseases, autoimmune disorders, and cancer, at least according to paediatric neurologist Maya Shetreat-Klein, M.D., author of The Dirt Cure<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Is it that most beekeepers usually live on farms, eat fresh, whole foods, and generally follow a more active and healthier lifestyle than many modern-day humans who eat ultra-processed foods and live sedentary lives?<\/p>\n

Is it something else entirely?<\/p>\n

Researching human health and longevity is notoriously complicated. A cure for one person with cancer may have no effect on another patient\u2019s disease. It may even accelerate cancer growth in someone else with the same diagnosis.<\/p>\n

So, I can\u2019t give you a definitive answer about beekeepers and cancer. Like with many health questions, I\u2019m not sure what I think. But I can share with you some of what my research has revealed.<\/p>\n

Fuzzy chemists<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bees aren\u2019t just adorable and wonderful and good for the planet in so many ways. They\u2019re also little fluffy chemists and builders.<\/p>\n

They make something called propolis \u2013 a sticky, resinous material also known as \u201cbee glue.\u201d They use this propolis to seal cracks in their hives, protect the colony from predators, and help keep certain non-beneficial microbes out of the colony, according to ScienceInsights.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Propolis is chemically fascinating<\/a>. Its composition modifies depending on where the bees live, which flowers and other plants the bees are frequenting, and the season.<\/p>\n

We have interesting data showing that propolis can be protective against cancer, and may also be an effective anti-cancer bee product for treating cancer patients. This may in part be due to a compound found in propolis called CAPE: caffeic acid phenethyl ester.<\/p>\n

Why caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) matters<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a peer-reviewed scientific article published in 1996<\/a>, a team of scientists from the University of Texas found that CAPE blocked activation of NF-\u03baB. NF-\u03baB activation is an inflammatory factor involved in immune signalling, inflammation, cell survival, and cancer-related stress responses.<\/p>\n

If I may simplify: blocking NF-\u03baB activation is good and has the potential to help fight against cancer. NF-\u03baB matters because some cancer cells use inflammatory survival programs to avoid dying. For example, in 2001 scientists discovered<\/a> that NF-\u03baB activity is required for tumour-cell survival in activated B cell-like diffuse large B cell lymphoma.<\/p>\n

CAPE has also been studied in gastric epithelial cells exposed to Helicobacter pylori<\/em>, the bacterium linked to ulcers and gastric cancer. In a 2005 study<\/a>, published in the British Journal of Pharmacology<\/em>, Egyptian scientists found that CAPE inhibited H. pylori<\/em>-induced NF-\u03baB and AP-1 DNA-binding activity in a dose-dependent way. That study also found that CAPE reduced H. pylori<\/em>-induced cell proliferation, inflammatory cytokines, and COX-2 expression.<\/p>\n

In an earlier study on colon cancer<\/a>, a team of researchers in Taiwan found that CAPE inhibited capillary-like tube formation, reduced invasion by CT26 colon adenocarcinoma cells, lowered MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity, and reduced VEGF production in mice.<\/p>\n

VEGF stands for vascular endothelial growth factor. VEGF promotes the formation of new blood vessels<\/a> that then feed nutrients to cancer cells. In the 2003 Taiwanese study when CAPE was given intraperitoneally (that is, administered via entry into the small bowel), it reduced pulmonary metastasis and lowered blood levels of VEGF.<\/p>\n

CAPE has also been studied in breast cancer cells. In 2004, scientists in Japan found that CAPE appeared to help push some cancer cells from survival mode toward self-destruct mode.<\/p>\n

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At the same time, another study, published in 2009, found that CAPE was eliminated rapidly after intravenous administration in rats, with a half-life of only about 21 to 27 minutes.<\/p>\n

Questions remain: What does it mean that CAPE has such a short half-life in vivo<\/em>? Are these studies biologically relevant to humans struggling with cancer? What\u2019s the best and most effective way to get CAPE into the human body? Does it do anything when taken orally as opposed to being administered intravenously? What kind of dosing do we need to give a human patient in order for it to be effective? And how do we source the propolis that has the largest concentrations of anti-cancer properties?<\/p>\n

So we know that propolis in general and CAPE in particular can help mitigate cancer-induced inflammatory, apoptotic, angiogenic, and invasive pathways. Might this be one reason beekeepers don\u2019t get cancer as often as non-beekeepers?<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the bee venom\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I met with the apiarist recently, she did a sting test on me. Epi-pen and antihistamines in hand, she put a bee on my abdomen and had it sting me near my liver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy getting stung by bees<\/em>\u201d said no sane person ever. It hurt. I also felt bad for the bee, whose life was then forfeit. And I had a full-blown immune reaction, with swelling and redness and itching that started the next day and lasted for nearly a week. No fun.<\/p>\n

Pain notwithstanding, bee venom is touted as a powerful anti-inflammatory. It contains a mixture of bioactive compounds, has two peptides that are thought to be beneficial to human health. A peptide is a short string of amino acids and a building block of protein. The two peptides are:<\/p>\n